US Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys are parked at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan City, Okinawa Prefecture, southwestern Japan, October 7, 2026. /VCG
The Okinawa prefectural meeting on Friday adopted a protest decision and an opinion assertion calling for a basic assessment of the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) following the alleged homicide of a neighborhood girl by a US Marine within the southern Japanese prefecture, native media reported.
The protest decision urged the US army to take measures to forestall comparable incidents, whereas the opinion assertion referred to as on the Japanese authorities to take motion towards a basic assessment of the settlement, Kyodo News reported.
Devin Jacob Ballard, a 20-year-old US Marine stationed in Okinawa, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of robbing and murdering Anna Yagi, 39, at a resort within the prefectural capital of Naha early Saturday, in response to police. He has denied the allegations.
Following the arrest, the US army in Okinawa suspended operations for 48 hours from Wednesday midday and imposed a curfew from midnight to five a.m. for 30 days beginning on Friday.
The meeting adopted an identical protest decision and opinion assertion in 2024 after a sequence of sexual assault circumstances involving US servicemen in Okinawa got here to mild.
Crimes involving US army personnel stationed in Japan, together with severe offenses resembling homicide, rape and theft, have lengthy been a supply of public concern.Â
Okinawa was below US administration from 1945 to 1972 following Japan’s defeat in World War II and continues to host the vast majority of amenities in Japan solely utilized by US forces.
Source: CGTN